HAMTRAMCK, Mich. (WXYZ) — Turmoil at Hamtramck City Hall continues to unravel with a newly filed whistleblower lawsuit. The city manager and a police officer, who are suspended, filed it.
They claim city leaders suspended them out of retaliation for exposing public corruption and other alleged misconduct. Now, they're looking for a jury to hear their case.
Watch Darren Cunningham's video report below:
Mayor Amer Ghalib, Police Chief Jamiel Altaheri and all six city council members are named in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit filed in Wayne County Circuit Court against the city of Hamtramck and city officials is a 254-count complaint, ranging from alleged bribery schemes to racism to abuse of authority.
"This is politics at its worst. This is allegations of corruption at its worst," attorney Jon Marko told reporters.
Hear more from the city manager and police officer below:
Flanked by his clients — Hamtramck police officer David Adamczyk and Hamtramck City Manager Max Garbarino — the attorney highlighted claims the men are making.
City council suspended Adamczyk and Garbarino. The men said it's retaliation for blowing the whistle on corruption.
"I reported directly to Police Chief Jamiel Altaheri. I witnessed him attempt to arrange multimillion-dollar pardon deals through Trump associates, high domestic violence incidents and forge and deliver IDs for an associate (and) stashing a stolen vehicle at his home or his wife's home in Livonia," Adamczyk explained to reporters.
Previous coverage: Hamtramck city manager placed on leave, was walked out of heated council meeting
Adamczyk said he reported these things to the Michigan State Police, the FBI and the city manager, who then placed the police chief on leave and launched a third party to investigate.
MSP and the FBI are also investigating.
Previous coverage: Hamtramck police chief placed on administrative leave amid investigation
"These past few years have been horrible dealing with this corrupt council, always doing what I could to hold the line to protect the city. Frankly, they have put my staff and I through hell. The city has endured misconduct for far too long. These guys have been fixing elections here for over a decade and we have been begging for help all along," Garbarino told reporters.
7 News Detroit bumped into Mayor Amer Ghalib outside of city hall. He calls the lawsuit nonsense.
"At this point, anyone can say anything," he said.
When asked if there is validity to any of the claims listed in the lawsuit, the mayor replied "based on what I see, there are a lot of just made-up stories. Police chief seems that he's confident that he thinks they're also made up stories."
Ghalib said he's looking forward to the results of the investigation.
"We hope the investigation will be done as soon as possible, so we can expose the truth to the people," the mayor said.
Previous coverage: Hamtramck council members keep seats despite questions if they reside in the city
7 News Detroit also reached out to Altaheri. He texted a statement saying he is cooperating with the investigation and "I call on the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, State Police, and FBI to follow-up on these false accusations and all those behind these fabricated stories."
